Online vs in-person tutoring: which does your agency actually offer?

I've run lessons in both formats for over a decade. The post-COVID dust has settled, both work, and most UK agencies haven't thought hard enough about which mode they should offer per student.

Where in-person still beats online

• Younger students (KS2 + early KS3). Attention spans are short. Physical presence + manipulatives + the ability to share a book are hard to replicate online. 1-to-1 in-person at the parent's home works.
• SEN tutoring. ADHD, dyslexia, processing differences — most students benefit from the lower-distraction environment of in-person.
• Subjects with practical components. Art, DT, Music (instrumental) — obvious. Less obvious: Maths at the point a student needs to physically sketch geometric proofs, or Chemistry when working through balanced equations on paper.
• First lesson with a new student. Online for the trial is OK, but in-person trial converts at ~85% vs online trial ~65% in our data.

Where online beats in-person

• A-Level and serious GCSE students. Self- motivated, can focus, benefit from being able to record the session and review. Online wins on convenience for both sides.
• Specialist subjects. The only Further Maths tutor with experience teaching to grade 9 might live 200 miles away. Online makes that work.
• Group lessons. Operationally easier online than in-person. No venue, no travel, easier scheduling. The conversion-to-permanent rate is identical to in-person groups if you handle the trial follow-up well.
• Last-minute or short-notice sessions. Online tutors can take a last-minute booking that an in-person tutor couldn't.

The hybrid model

What we run for our own agency:

• First lesson: online by default. Lower friction for the parent, cheaper trial, easier reschedule.
• Recurring: parent's choice. We default to whatever the parent picked at booking, but explicitly offer both at the end of the trial.
• SEN + KS2 + KS3 always have the in-person option surfaced. Don't bury it.
• Group lessons online only. Operational and economic reasons.
• Travel charge for in-person 1-to-1. £10 added to the hourly rate to cover tutor travel. Yes, this filters out price-sensitive parents; no, you don't want them anyway.

The platform implications

Whatever mix you pick, your platform needs to handle both. Things I've seen agencies trip on:

• Meeting link management per lesson, not per tutor. A single Zoom link per tutor breaks when two students have back-to-back sessions.
• Travel time + buffer between lessonsfor in- person tutors. A 15-minute buffer means the tutor isn't knocking on the next door 30 seconds after the last one ended.
• In-person address per parent rather than per lesson, with the address visible to the tutor only after the first lesson is paid for (safeguarding angle).
• Different cancellation policy windows for in-person vs online. A no-show online costs the tutor 30 seconds of disappointment. A no-show in-person cost them 90 minutes of travel.

The honest position

Most parents start with a preference and end with whatever actually works for their child. Don't pick a side ideologically. Make both available, default sensibly per demographic, and let the parent decide. The agencies running “we're an online-first agency” or “we only offer face-to-face” are leaving 30-40% of the market on the table.